Easy
by barretone
Summary: [beat/rhyme so whoops incest warning] It's a little too easy sometimes.


Disclaimer: I don't own The World Ends With You, and that's probably for the best.

* * *

It's easy to fool their parents into thinking that she's scared of monsters, her still being so small and young and fragile, even though she's never once been afraid of the idea of monsters lurking under her bed or inside her closet (if anything, she used to seek them out with a flashlight in hand, hoping to invite them for a chat).

It's easy for their parents to believe she needs her brother's protection from the dark (because if there's one thing that's any good about him, it's the way he knows how to protect his baby sister, riling up like a guard dog at anyone who dares look at her the wrong way).

So it's easy for their parents to sleep at peace during the night, none the wiser, while their children huddle close under Beat's blankets, Rhyme in one of his old shirts, far too big for her thin and straight frame (but that's okay, they're soft and worn and comfy and they're _Beat's_ so that makes them perfect).

It's easy for them to be quiet when he holds her close and kisses her all over her forehead, neck (she giggles because it tickles and it makes him kiss her there even more and she has to be real careful not to laugh so hard they wake their parents up, even though they never do, much to their amazement), cheeks,

lips.

They're grateful their parents are so completely oblivious, but at the same time, they can't quite get how they can be so _blind_, how they don't notice the way Beat looks at Rhyme in the morning when, despite a rude awakening from his mother that leaves him grouchy, his face lights up and softens at her smile and he drops a quick kiss on her forehead on the way to the fridge to get milk for a bowl of cereal she gets out for him. And they eat and rush off to school, quick, before their parents can stop Beat for a tedious reminder to put in _some actual effort for once in your life, Daisukeno—_and they run fast and laugh in the sunlight and their heels screech to a halt at the intersections where he holds her hand tight and they just walk across.

Having friends who don't judge them helps make things easier too, and they're grateful to Neku and Shiki for accepting them, despite the shock at first (Shiki is quick to accept and support them once they take a moment to explain; Neku takes a little longer to accept it but eventually gives his support too since, hey, who's he to judge how people choose to live, who people choose to love), and the four of them would go for some burgers after school. Sometimes they worry about what a holy being like Joshua high above would think of them being like this, and they'd ponder the thought for a bit before Beat always just goes "Ah, fuck 'im, Rhyme."

There are some parts that are hard though. Not everyone is quite as accepting as their friends, and they do catch the odd looks from passersby, who're a little weirded out, like they can just _feel _that they're a little closer than they _should_ be. But they brush off the stares and the whispers, Rhyme just smiling politely and Beat giving them a hard glare and those passersby look away quick and pretend they didn't see anything wrong, because they _certainly_ didn't, not at all. He'd pat her shoulder and she'd giggle up at him and they go back to their own business, following behind Neku and Shiki as the latter talks excitedly about her new projects to her boyfriend (_boyfriend_, there's something envious about the way Shiki can freely use that word since she and Neku have nothing shameful to hide about their relationship).

Some parts are hard, like when he jerks awake in a sweat and pants heavily from a recurring nightmare (even though it's been a few years already) of a big car that came at them too fast, braked too late, sent them flying into the pavement, into a game with _real _monsters that ended up bringing them closer than before.

(he remembers bones splintering and there's red and blood blood blood _everywhere_ and distant screams of shock and concern—_are you kids okay?!_—and Rhyme too still in his arms, eyes so empty and cold, a picture that's just so _wrong _because that's not how she's supposed to look _ever _and he's never had a dream where he is fast enough to _save_ her)

(and when there isn't a _car_ there's a _shark_, there's _cold long fingers with sharp black nails_ and a cruel giggle_,_ there's _something_ to take her away from him again and again and _again_)

She would wake up after him, because she can always feel when something's wrong with him, and she'd hold his shoulders and rub his back with soothing whispers of _it's okay, it's just a bad dream, I'm here, I'm alive, we _both_ are_, and he holds her back tight until he believes it and his heart finally calms down and stops hammering.

When she's sure he's okay, Rhyme goes back to sleep, and Beat holds her until he nods off to the comforting lull of her breathing.

And everything's easy again.


End file.
